Identification and printing devices



Jan. 2, 1962 s. A. DASHEW 1 IDENTIFICATION AND PRINTING DEVICES Filed Dec. 4, 1956 I'll/672207" United States Patent 3,015,267 IDENTIFICATEON AND PRINTING DEVICES Stanley A. Dashew, Culver City, Calif., assignor to Dashew Business Machines, 151C. a corporation of Delawere I Filed Dec. 4, 1956, Ser. No. 626,127

4 Claims. (Cl. 101369) This invention relates to identification and printing devices and particularly to such devices, that are related to a particular person or thing and which are used for preparing record documents.

Identification and printing devices of the aforesaid character are often used. for credit purposes where the purchaser has such a device issued to him for use when making purchases in a particular store or the like. Such identification and printing device usually comprises a flat member, at least a part of which is formed from an embossable material such as metal or plastic, and this embossable material has embossed text thereon from which a printed impression may be made upon the business document that is required in making a charge entry or the like. The identification and printing devices as heretofore used have in some instances resorted to separately formed paper orv cardboard members upon which further identification material may be placed, such for example, as the signature of the holder of the device and material relating to the terms, class or limitations of the device insofar as credit may be concerned. in other in.- stances such. devices have merely had the embossed text formed in. a plastic member upon which the printed text relating to credit limitations or the like has been placed and which in most cases also carriesprinted text identifying the issuer of the identification and printing device.

In all of the identification and printing devices heretofore known the identificationmaterial that could be included on the device has been relatively limited in character so that. the devices have not functioned to any great extentinsotar as positive identification may be concerned. Moreover, in such prior devices the possibility of unauthorized alteration of the device insofar as its identification characteristics may be concernedjhas rendered such nrior devices of doubtful value insofar as attainment of proper identification may be concerned.

In view-of the foregoing, it is the primary object of thepresent invention to enable a wide variety and alarge amount of identification material to be included on identification and printing devices, and. a related obiect isto enable such identification material to be associated with the printing means of thedevice in such away that alteration of the identification materials is for all practical purposes impossible.

Another important object of; thepresent inventionis t0.enab1e identification and printing devicesto be produced in such a manner that the identification means included on thedevice are positively and permanently relatedzin aphysical sensetothepiintingmeans of the device. Further andrelated objects are to producethe identification means on such device by photographic means, and'toso treat such photographically produced identificationmeans, in the course of the embossing operation, that the. photographically reproducedmaterial is modifiedinsucha way t at the identification means of the; device are thereafter incapable of being altered. More specifically, it is anobject of the present invention to render such identification and printing device tamperproof by photographically reproducing the identifying data on one face of the embossable material and to thereafter emboss the printing means on the device so as to alter at least certain portions of the photographically reproduced material.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims, and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which by way of illustration, show preferred embodiments of the present invention and the principles thereof, and what is now considered to. be the best mode in which to apply these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as. desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational' view of an identification and printing device embodying the features of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational' view of the device.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the device after the formation of the identifying means thereon, the View being taken substantially along the line 33' of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the device taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged and somewhat schematic perspective view illustrating the way in which the photographically reproduced material ismodified in the embossing operation; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 and showing an alternative embodiment of the invention.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is herein i1,- lustrated as embodied in a printing and identification device ltlwhichin the present instance is relatively small and rectangular in shape and is made basically from a thin sheet of relatively strong embossa'bie. plastic material. On the forwardface of the sheet lit a thin photographically produced layer 12 is formed whereby a wide variety of related identification material is permanently associated with the sheet ll. As to the layer 12, such layer constitutes nothing more than the usual photographic emulsion after printing and developing, and the sheet 11 constitutes the carrier or backing for such emulsion layer. Such emulsion layer 12 is of course of such a character that it cannot be changed or modified,

and this is particularly true after embossing of the device,

as Will be described.

Ln-the present instance, the printing and identification device 1% is shown as being adapted for use in the military services by issuance of the device It to a particu lar individual in the armed services, and the identifying material that is included photographically in the layer 12 of the device pertains particularly, to the holder of. the device 19; Moreover, the printing and identification,

device lil includes printing means in the form of two lines of embossed type characters 14 which in the presentinstance are of the direct reading type so that whenthe device is reversed as shown in FIG. 2, the type characters 14 are direct reading. The use of direct reading embossed type, however, is a matter of choice inthat where the; devicelt) is to be used with a diife'rentkindof printing machine, reverse reading type may be embossed therein.

As will be discussed further" hereinafter, the

printable text material afforded by the embossed type characters 14 is related to the holder of the card and to the other identification material that is included in the photographic layer 12 of the device. The blanks for producing the devices are furnished to the user with the necessary coating of photographic emulsion in a protected or wrapped relation thereon so' as to be ready for the required photographic printing operations at the point of use;

The identification material that is included in the photographically reproduced layer 12 may of course take many different forms and may be widely varied as to content. In the present instance, this identification material includes a picture of the holder of the cards, such picture being taken with alined background 21 so as to clearly indicate in the photograph the height of the holder of the card. The photograph 29 and the lined background 21, in the present instance, cover substantially one-half of the area of the face of the printing and identification device 10, and the balance of the area of the device 10 is utilized for providing other identifying characteristics. Thus, near the middle of the device it}, the military rank and serial number of the holder of the device are indicated at 22 by an appropriate text; beneath this, a line 23 of printed text indicates the weight and the color of the eyes and hair of the holder. A further line of text 24 indicates the life or expiration data that applies to the particular device 10. Beneath the material 22-24, the lower area of the face of the device '10 includes the signature 25 of the holder, a printed identification 26 of the issuing department, a signature 27 of the issuing officer and a card number at 28. All of such added identification material is produced photographically and permanently on the sheet 11 as part of the photographic layer 12.

A comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2. shows that the embossed text provided by the type characters 14 constitutes the name and military rank of the holder of the card in one line of text, while the other line of text constitutes the serial number, the branch of the armed services, and other pertinent material such as the blood type of the holder are shown. Such printable text material is thus in part, a repetition of the photographically reproduced text, and all of the printable material provided by the type characters 14 is related to the holder of the card.

The photographically reproduced identification material is, of course, prepared photographically, and this may be done through the use of.a single composite negative, or through the use of individual negatives that contain the material that is to be reproduced on the device 10. Such material from the negative is printed photographically into the layer 12, which after development in the usual way, provides identification material that is a permanent part of the printing and identification device 10.

After the photographic layer 12 has been completed, the type characters 14 are embossed into the sheet 11, and as this is done, the photographic layer 12 is deformed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 so that it extends into the in taglio face of the type characters 14, and as an illustration of such deformation, FIG. 5 shows a line 121 of the background material 21 as it extends over the normal flat surface of the sheet 11 and downwardly into a type character 14.

Where the embossures are made through the intaglio areas of the layer 12 as in FIGS. 1 to 5, the deformation of the portions of the image into the depressed surfaces of the type characters 14 renders the printing and identification device 10 proof against tampering and changing of the identification material. Thus, the present invention is rendered particularly adaptable for use Where identification is highly critical.

,In FIG. 6 of the drawing an alternative embodiment of the invention is illustrated. Thus, a printing and identification device 110 is shown in FIG. 6 as being made from an embossable metal sheet 111 having a photographically produced layer 112 on one of its faces, and this photographically produced layer 112 may include identifying material such as that hereinabove described as being included in the photographic layer 12 of FIGS. 1 to 5. In this embodiment of the invention, however, the embossing operation has been performed in What may be termed a reverse manner, in that the intaglio surfaces of the embossed type characters L14 are formed on the uncoated facegof the sheet or plate 111, the relief faces of the type characters 114 being formed so as to extend from the surfaces of the sheet 111 that carries the photographically produced layer 112. This manner of locating and forming the embossed type characters 114 also causes an interrelation to be established between the photographic layer 112 and the embossed characters 114, this result being attained because in the formation of the embossures, the photographic layer 112 and the identifying material included therein are deformed in the same general manner as hereinabove described. With this form of the invention it is recognized that the photographic layer 112 at the printing surfaces of the embossures will in the course of time become worn away, but this is not considered to be a substantial drawback in respect to this form of the invention.

In the preceding description the invention has been described as it is constructed for use as a military identification and printing device, but it Will be evident that the printing and identification of the present invention may be used in ordinary commercial credit applications as Well as in tool room and the like operations where the identification material relates to things rather than to persons.

From the foregoing description it would be apparent that the present invention provides a new and improved printing and identification device where an extremely wide variety and large amount of identification material may be included on the device, and wherein such device is, for all practical purposes, tamper-proof insofar as the identification material may be concerned.

Thus while I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: a

l. A tamper-proof printing and identification device comprising a plate formed from embossable material, a layer of photographically produced identifying text material and related identifying picture material in fixed position on one face of said plate, and printable identifying text related to said photographically produced material and embossed in said plate to modify portions of said photographically produced material.

2. A tamper-proof printing and identification device comprising a plate formed from embossable material, identifying text material and related identifying picture material photographically produced on one face of said plate, and printable identifying text related to said photographically produced material and embossed in said plate to modify portions of said photographically produced material.

3. The method of producing a tamper-proof printing and identification device that consists in photographically producing identifying text material and related identifying picture material in a photographic emulsion layer on one face of an embossable plate, and embossing the plate to form printable identifying text related to said photo'- graphically produced material said plate to modify p01- tions of said photographically produced material.

4. The method of producing a tamper-proof printing and identification device which consists in photographically reproducing on the one face of an embossable plate a picture of the subject to be identified and including identifying text material relating to such subject and 5 thereafter forming related identifying text material on said plate by embossing type characters in areas covered by the photographically reproduced material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Krell May 19, 1925 Tiefel Nov. 18, 1930 Povalski Sept. 1, 1931 Papp June 9, 1936 Land Oct. 27, 1942 Carver Apr. 10, 1945 Carver Aug. 13, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Nov. 16, 1927 Austria Oct. 15, 1929 

